Pentecost Read Online Free PDF Page B

multiple tongues and the ability to convert many to their cause. It’s said that the force of wind and fire, combined with the power of Christ’s resurrection, became embedded in the stones themselves. When the disciples died or were martyred the stones were hidden and passed down through a network of Keepers, who kept the Pentecostal flame alive through millennia.”
      “Kind of like the Christian faith of each man of God contained within a talisman of sorts?” Morgan said.  
      “Yes,” Jake replied. “Over time, the stones became imbued with a mythic status and miracles were said to be performed when they were present. There were healings and mass conversions as well as the power of communication through strange tongues. The Keepers who wore them also found themselves possessed of a creativity so extreme that it was considered a God-given power.”
      “So why aren’t these stones more well known?” Morgan asked.
      “When the twelve left Jerusalem, they never met again, but took the gospel to the people and died at the far corners of the known world. Because of their latent power, the stones were kept secret, protected as holy relics and known only to a few Keepers in each lifetime.”
      “But the biblical traditions vary when it comes to where the Apostles actually went,” Morgan argued. “Many of the Apostles just disappeared into history. How do you know where the stones ended up and who the Keepers are now, after so long?”
      The screen changed to a map of the ancient world, with markers of different colors scattered across the near east, into north Africa, India and Europe. Morgan recognized it as similar to the one Fry had shown her.
      “Exactly,” Jake said. “These pins represent the possible journeys of the twelve Apostles after Pentecost, where the stones may have ended up after they died. But it’s not known where they all are now or who the Keepers are, if indeed they still exist.”
      “So how did you get your stone?”
      “The ARKANE Institute holds this one, supposedly from the disciple Matthew Levi but I’m wearing it so that you would trust me enough to come with us. It was given to us by the Keeper in Athens before the Second World War. He also told us what he knew of this scattered brotherhood and how the stones had become lost over the millennia. He was worried that the Nazis would seek the power in the stones and wanted it more securely hidden.”
      “So why the sudden interest in the stones now? Why the men in my office tonight?”
      Jake signaled to the man at the laptop. The screen changed again to display an image of Earth, with a circling comet in a wide elliptical orbit.  
    “This is the Resurgam comet.”
      “Isn’t that Latin for resurrection?” Morgan asked.
      Jake nodded. “This comet is in a long orbit pattern around Earth. It’s calculated to return into the atmosphere in the next two weeks, triggering a series of stratospheric events. Scientists are already predicting it will cause extreme weather patterns in many parts of the world.”
      “How is this related to the stones?”
      Jake turned towards her, his eyes deep with concern. Morgan could see that something disturbed him deeply about this situation. “The comet was last in orbit in 33 AD.”
      “When Jesus rose from the dead,” she marveled.
      “And when the stones were empowered at Pentecost,” he finished for her.
      “You’re sure of this?” Morgan asked.
      “The comet is definitely coming and it explains the sudden interest in the stones. We believe that they’re being sought by a fringe religious organization that aims to use them to invoke the powers of Pentecost again, perhaps to trigger a fundamentalist uprising. The return of the comet could be seen as a catalyst for the power of the twelve.”
      “But that’s crazy. These are just pieces of rock, even if they are two thousand years old. They can’t have any special power.”
      “You might be